Lack of Sleep Increases Risk of Failure in School Among Teens

A new Swedish study links lack of sleep among adolescents to an increased risk of failure in school.

For adolescents, adequate sleep is crucial for proper growth. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that teens need a little more than nine hours of sleep each night. Previous researches have highlighted how lack of sufficient sleep puts teens at the risk of cognitive and emotional difficulties, disciplinary problems, negative moods and lack of attention at school.

The latest study, led by researchers at Uppsala Universitet, highlights other problems linked with lack of sleep. They reveal that adolescents who suffer from sleep disturbance or habitual short sleep duration are unlikely to progress academically as compared to those who receive sufficient sleep.

The finding is based on the evaluation of more than 20,000 adolescents, aged between 12-19 years, from Uppsala County. They noticed that risk of failure in school increased if the adolescents slept for less than 7 hours per day. .

"Another important finding of our study is that around 30 percent of the adolescents reported regular sleep problems. Similar observations have been made in other adolescent cohorts, indicating that sleep problems among adolescents have reached an epidemic level in our modern societies," said Christian Benedict, lead researcher of the study.

Recently, a study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh found that increasing the amount of sleep helps teens improve insulin resistance and prevent the future onset of diabetes.

The study was documented in the Journal Sleep Medicine. It was supported by the Swedish Brain Foundation and Novo Nordisk Foundation.